STATUE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT.
Christianity teaches that the immaterial God took flesh in the human form of Jesus Christ,
making it therefore possible to create depictions of the human form of the Son of God. It is on this basis that the Old Testament proscriptions against making images
were overturned for the early Christians by their belief in the Incarnation. Also,
the concept of archetype was redefined by the early church fathers in order to better understand that when a person shows veneration toward an image,
the intention is rather to honor the person depicted, not the substance of the icon. As St. Basil the Great says,
"The honor shown the image passes over to the archetype." He also illustrates the concept by saying,
"If I point to a statue of Caesar and ask you 'Who is that?', your answer would properly be, 'It is Caesar.'
When you say such you do not mean that the stone itself is Caesar, but rather,
the name and honor you ascribe to the statue passes over to the original, the archetype, Caesar himself."[16] So it is with an Icon.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, only flat panel or bas relief images are used. The Greeks, having a long, pagan tradition of statuary, found the sensual quality of three dimensional representations
did more to glorify the human aspect of the flesh rather than the divine nature of the spirit and so prohibitions were created against statuary.
The Romans, on the other hand, did not adopt these prohibitions and so there is still statuary among the Roman Catholics to this day. Because the Greeks rejected statuary,
the Byzantine style of iconography was developed in which figures were stylized in a manner that emphasized their holiness rather than their humanity. Symbolism allowed the icon to
present highly complex material in a very simple way,
making it possible to educate even the illiterate in theology.
The interiors of Orthodox Churches are often completely covered in icons.
making it therefore possible to create depictions of the human form of the Son of God. It is on this basis that the Old Testament proscriptions against making images
were overturned for the early Christians by their belief in the Incarnation. Also,
the concept of archetype was redefined by the early church fathers in order to better understand that when a person shows veneration toward an image,
the intention is rather to honor the person depicted, not the substance of the icon. As St. Basil the Great says,
"The honor shown the image passes over to the archetype." He also illustrates the concept by saying,
"If I point to a statue of Caesar and ask you 'Who is that?', your answer would properly be, 'It is Caesar.'
When you say such you do not mean that the stone itself is Caesar, but rather,
the name and honor you ascribe to the statue passes over to the original, the archetype, Caesar himself."[16] So it is with an Icon.
In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, only flat panel or bas relief images are used. The Greeks, having a long, pagan tradition of statuary, found the sensual quality of three dimensional representations
did more to glorify the human aspect of the flesh rather than the divine nature of the spirit and so prohibitions were created against statuary.
The Romans, on the other hand, did not adopt these prohibitions and so there is still statuary among the Roman Catholics to this day. Because the Greeks rejected statuary,
the Byzantine style of iconography was developed in which figures were stylized in a manner that emphasized their holiness rather than their humanity. Symbolism allowed the icon to
present highly complex material in a very simple way,
making it possible to educate even the illiterate in theology.
The interiors of Orthodox Churches are often completely covered in icons.
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